ACT lights up 2020 Track Nats

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Track Cycling team upheld its reputation of punching above their weight at the 2020 AusCycling Track National Championships held recently in Brisbane by bringing home medals for all but one of their five members.

The ACT team enjoyed a successful five days on the boards of the Anna Meares Velodrome courtesy of several standout performances across a tough week of competition.

One such highlight was the history-making ride of Lily Stratford, Claudia Marcks and Felice Beitzel in what would be the ACT's first-ever Elite Women's Team Sprint squad.

The dynamic trio ended the ACT medal haul in style for the Championships by winning the bronze medal and setting a new ACT Elite Women's Team Sprint (750m) record with a time of 52.478.

AusCycling Emerging Athlete member Claudia Marcks said she was thrilled to compete in all-ACT sprint team for the first time in a welcome return to the competitive scene.

"It was great being in that environment again," she said.

"I didn't put down a personal best in my main event (U19 Women's Individual Pursuit) but it didn't bother me too much.

"Looking back on it, it was a week where I can definitely now see where I'm at in my age group leading into the 2021 Championships in March.

"I'm still always improving and getting faster times."

Canberra's Nathan Hart narrowly missed out on defending his Men's Sprint crown after a pulsating three-round duel with fellow Australian Sprint Team member Matthew Richardson (WA).

Richardson said ANU Cycling Club member Hart "surprised" him in the second round.

"(He) caught me off guard by coming underneath me in bend one," he said.

"It made the racing super interesting and we had to go to three rounds but it was good fun."

Felice Beitzel tasted individual success at a national level for the first time in her career on Day 4 of the Championships.

"I was very happy with that," she said.

"I have to thank Ray (Gorrell) our team manager so much because he worked tirelessly for our little team throughout the week."

Gorrell said the only ACT representative who did not return home with a medal, Jarrah Anderson (U19), was ironically one of the closest chances ACT had at winning a national title in Brisbane.

"An exciting charge by Anderson with one lap to go in the U19 Men's Keirin Final appeared almost certain to pay off until the shoulder of a boxed-in South Australian rider brought Jarrah's hopes crashing to the ground," he said.

Anderson had a second incident the following day in the U19 Men's Sprint qualifying when his front tyre blew out during the Flying 200m.

Focus for ACT track cyclists will now turn towards the 2021 AusCycling Track Territory Championships - ACT held on February 6-7 at the Narrabundah Velodrome.

The 2021 AusCycling Track National Championships will follow a month later in Brisbane at the Anna Meares Velodrome on March 24-28.

Results
Visit the official events results page - results.auscycling.org.au

Website
Keep up to date via the official website - tracknationals.org.au